Kevin Smith Weighs in on the Riddler's New Look in The Batman

Fans got their first look at Matt Reeves' The Batman during DC FanDome this past weekend with the release of the first trailer for the eagerly anticipated film. The trailer offered up first real looks at a lot of elements of the film, namely Robert Pattinson's Batman/Bruce Wayne, Zoe Kravitz's Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and Jeffrey Wright's Jim Gordon. The film also offered up a first look at one of the film's major villains, Paul Dano's The Riddler. It's an appearance that certainly got fans talking and now super fan Kevin Smith is weighing in as well.

During a recent episode of Fatman Beyond, Smith and his co-host Marc Bernardin talked about all things DC FanDome, including The Batman trailer and while Smith acknowledged that Dano's Riddler doesn't look anything like the comic book character whose look is pretty iconic with his green suit and bowler hat, he was very happy to see this version even if he thinks some of the hype might need to settle down for now so we can see how the character unfolds on screen.

"A lot of love for Paul Dano on the internet which was, you know, I mean, look I'm all for it. I thought it was a great trailer, but everyone's like 'Dano better get ready for his Oscar now,'" Smith said. "I'm like, 'you literally haven't seen his face in the trailer. You saw a dude wrapped up in plastic and you're ready to give the man an award."

He continued, "I think it's a great use of the character, making him kind of like the zodiac killer and sh-t like that. I saw someone online going 'where's his iconic suit?' I'm like, f-cking keep the suit man, you wrap that dude's head up in plastic with like goggles on it that's f-cking way more terrifying than the question mark suit which, by the way, is not terrifying at all and we've seen many incarnations of it. I was happy to see this new version. Happy to be disappointed, I wasn't disappointed but happy to be like 'oh shit that's not what I thought, where's his bowler hat, where's his cane?' I like this guy a lot more. He's just got f-cking tape. That's his weapon."

While don't yet know much about Dano's Riddler, it seems that Smith isn't the only one excited to see the actor's new take on the iconic villain. Reeves explained during The Batman panel during DC FanDome that this is a version fans have never seen.

"You know we have a Paul Dano plays a version of the Riddler that no one has ever seen before and it's really exciting," Reeves said. "He's such an incredibly creative actor and so what he is doing I think is going to blow people's minds."

Reeves went deeper into what fans can expect from the villains in the film at large as well, revealing that the origin story we see in the movie won't just be for Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight but for his villains too.

"I guess the one thing about the Rogues Gallery is that it actually in a weird way, is the origins of a lot of our Rogue's gallery characters," Reeves continued. "So, like, Selena isn't Catwoman yet that's actually part of the journey. Oz is not yet the kingpin that he's going to become he's the penguin in fact doesn't like being called the penguin, and the Riddler is just emerging for the first time, so that's all incredibly exciting."

As of now, The Batman is still on track to hit theaters on October 1, 2021.